Amazon’s Radically Redesigned Kindle Oasis Leaks Ahead Of Launch

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos last week teased that an all-new Kindle e-reader was coming soon, but before the company has had a chance to officially unveil it, details about the radically different Kindle Oasis have leaked online.

According to a report by the Verge, the details of the all-new Kindle were posted on the Chinese website Tmall before the page was taken offline again. According to the page, the new e-reader, coming this week, will be called the Kindle Oasis. The device will feature a new design that will mark the biggest change to the popular device since the company removed the physical keyboard.

The new design features a large bezel on one side of the display, which is apparently meant to make it easier to use the Kindle Oasis one-handed. The enlarged bezel features physical page-turn buttons, which means you won’t need to swipe on the screen to turn pages. The design is such that you will be able to hold the device in either your left or right hands, with the screen rotating depending on which hand you have it in.

The screen resolution remains the same 300 pixels per inch as the Kindle Voyage but, according to the listing, the number of LEDs behind the screen has been increased by 60 percent to make the backlighting more uniform.

The new Kindle Oasis will be just 3.5mm at its thinnest point but will grow to 8.5mm at its thickest, with the enlarged bezel also likely to house the battery. As for the battery, the Tmall page also described the new leather case for the Kindle Oasis, which houses a rechargeable battery that will let the e-reader last for up to 20 months in standby mode.

The case attaches to the Kindle Oasis with magnets; when it is attached the user will be able to charge both batteries at the same time. A number of reports suggested that Amazon could be working on waterproofing the new Kindle, but there was no indication on the Tmall listing that the Oasis — despite its name — would allow for worry-free bath time reading.

Also absent from the Tmall listing was a price for the Kindle Oasis, but with the current top-of-the-line device from Amazon, the Kindle Voyage, priced at $199, the new model is likely to have a price tag at least as big.